Multiple Ariane 6 Launch Agreements Announced at 17th European Space Conference
Copernicus Sentinel-1D Satellite, Plato Space Telescope Named Among the Payloads
Several launch agreements were signed or announced by Arianespace at the 17th European Space Conference last week, with the first scheduled for late February.
“This marks the start of the Ariane 6 operating phase, and it's an honor to open this new era for Arianespace."
David Cavaillolès, Arianespace
On February 26, 2025, Arianespace will launch the CSO-3 satellite for the French Defense Procurement and Technology Agency (DGA) and the French space agency (CNES) on behalf of the French Air and Space Force’s Space Command (CDE), with the Ariane 62 version of Ariane 6.
The VA263 mission will be the first commercial flight for Europe’s new heavy-lift launcher Ariane 6, after the successful inaugural flight on July 9, 2024.
“I am very pleased to announce the date of Ariane 6’s first commercial flight as I take up office. This marks the start of the Ariane 6 operating phase, and it's an honor to open this new era for Arianespace," said David Cavaillolès, CEO of Arianespace. "With this launch in support of French defense and the capability requirements of several partner nations, Arianespace will guarantee independent access to space for France and Europe, for the benefit of all our fellow citizens.”
CSO-3 will be the third CSO (Composante Spatiale Optique) satellite launched by Arianespace, completing the CSO system. With this launch in support of French defense and the capacity requirements of several partner nations, Arianespace will guarantee independent access to space for France and Europe, meeting a strategic priority.
Later this year, the European Union Copernicus Sentinel-1D satellite will fly on board Ariane 6, in the second half of 2025. And the launch of EUMETSAT’s Metop-SG-A1 satellite, already announced on Ariane 6, has been moved up to August 2025 on the second Ariane 6’ commercial flight (VA264). The satellite will notably carry the Sentinel-5 payload, an Earth observation instrument part of the European Union’s Copernicus program.
Sentinel-1D will carry advanced radar technology to provide an all-weather, day-and-night supply of imagery of the Earth’s surface, delivering data essential to monitoring sea ice, track icebergs and glaciers, subsidence, and oil spills. In addition to its core instruments scanning the Earth from a Low Orbit, the Metop-SG-A1 satellite will also carry the Sentinel-5 payload, an instrument part of Copernicus. The Sentinel-5 mission is a high-resolution spectrometer system operating in the ultraviolet to shortwave infrared range. This system enables the monitoring of nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, and other trace gases, - data supporting global air quality and pollution monitoring and climate applications.
Looking further into the future, Arianespace will launch ESA’s PLATO scientific spacecraft on board an Ariane 6 towards the end of 2026. PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) will study terrestrial planets in orbits up to the habitable zone of Sun-like stars, and characterise these stars. PLATO will board the heavy-lift Ariane 62 for a launch from Europe’s Spaceport, in French Guiana and will be placed into orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2. By orbiting PLATO, the Ariane 6 will demonstrate its capability to ensure precise orbital insertion for complex exploration missions.
Designed to detect and characterize Earth-like exoplanets, PLATO will utilize a unique array of 26 cameras to observe hundreds of thousands of stars with unprecedented precision. Using such a large number of cameras will enable a combined higher ‘signal-to-noise’ ratio and larger field of view than has been possible with previous missions.
And Arianespace signed contracts with the European Commission and the European Union Agency for the Space Program (EUSPA) for the launch of the first two second-generation satellites of the Galileo constellation, placed on-board an Ariane 6. With the already booked Galileo first-generation satellites’ missions on board Ariane 6, this new contract represents the fourth mission for Ariane 6 benefiting the Galileo constellation.
Since 2011, Arianespace has launched 28 Galileo satellites from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.